Interactive electronic books are increasingly used in educational environments. Such books may benefit from capabilities similar to those used for developing, displaying, updating, and otherwise managing Internet content; however, many educational environments prohibit or strictly limit Internet access, such as to avoid malware and to prevent students from accessing inappropriate content. A need exists for electronic books with improved features while allowing educational environments to maintain their policies with respect to Internet access. A need also exists for enabling interactions between electronic books and various other devices or systems that may be present in a classroom, such as devices used for scientific experiments. A need also exists for enabling customized and automatic assessment of students' understanding of material presented in interactive electronic books regardless of network access.